CHILDREN AND refugee groups have criticised a decision by the Minister for Justice to deport an 11-year-old Nigerian boy, who suffers from a psychological disorder and has threatened to take his own life.
The boy was taken to a holding centre at Dublin airport on Wednesday with his mother and nine-year-old sister by officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau. He is one of several children who were deported on a charter flight to Nigeria, which arrived in Lagos early on Thursday.
The Irish Refugee Council lobbied Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern right up until the flight took off on Wednesday for him to revoke the deportation order.
It said it had “grave concerns” for the safety of the boy, who suffers from an acute stress-related illness. Sue Conlon, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, said:“In this particular case, the State had been providing care in a situation where a child had been damaged in their system. To take that away suddenly and wash their hands of them is an inhuman act.”
The last-ditch appeal includes letters from the child’s doctor, psychologist and a support worker from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
“In terms of [the child’s] psychological wellbeing, it is vital that [he] continues to attend the multidisciplinary gastroenterology team in Our Lady’s hospital Crumlin,” wrote Elizabeth Nolan, senior clinical psychologist at Our Lady’s Hospital Crumlin.
“It is vital that [he] not be unnecessarily exposed to further stressful environments; this child has experienced a number of traumatic incidents to date and is unable to emotionally process any further upheavals,” she wrote.
The mother, who spoke to The Irish Timesby telephone from the holding centre at the airport, said her son's psychological and medical problems began when he was transferred from an asylum hostel in Dublin to Mosney a few years ago. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said it could not comment on individual cases. The mother came to Ireland with two of her three children in 2006. She applied for asylum. Her application was rejected and she was served with a deportation order on September 21st, 2010.